Had a fun if small morning trek to Sunset Cliffs with Aaron, Uzair, Chris W and Jordan. The small size suited those who had missed the past few months, the cold water was largely ignored, everyone got a few waves and we stayed out for two hours or so. Felt great to have a fun [...]

Wetsuits, by their very nature, are nearly a perfect creation for growing stinky bacteria. As your mom and biology teacher always told you, bacteria love damp, dark, warm environments. It takes quite a bit of maintenance to habitually rinse and hang your wetsuit to dry, leading most regular surfers to have wetsuits that smell only [...]

As a relative newcomer to surfing, I’m in the “getting the right equipment” phase (although my friends with a half dozen boards in their quiver lead me to believe this phase never really comes to an end). This entails a lot of research, a bit of patience, and occassionally taking my knocks. Here’s my wetsuit [...]

We all know and accept that sharks are out there with us when we are surfing.  Most present no danger to surfers, but every break has one or two species to be aware of like tigers, bulls and whites.  Personally I don’t think about it too much when I’m with a group, but its all [...]

Sometimes all you really need to know for surfing is the tide charts, especially if you are an every day surfer. Unlike the surf report, tide charts are incredibly accurate and reliable. And if you know your surf break well enough, you know the ideal time in the tide fluctuation for maximum surf output. If [...]

My bike rack broke a few weeks ago.  (Truth be told, it rusted away – salty sea air.)  Anyway, time for a new one.  I opted for the Carver Surf Rack (with back rack).  It ran me $110 at my local surf shop.  It was a prettier penny that I would have like to have [...]

I briefly mentioned this in the comments yesterday and thought it might be cool to do a more thorough post about it. Swellwatch is a free feature at wetsand.com that allows you to create an account and keep session logs stored online. The coolest thing about it is that you can customize your logs to [...]

Mixed bag at Venice this morning.  We got there early and it was windy and choppy.  Things cleared up a bit as the morning progressed.  It was at times disorganized and bumpy, plus there were plenty of close outs.  Every once in awhile a workable wave would show up.  Waves were mostly 2s and 3s [...]

Bobble Sufer Free is an iPhone app from Lemur Software that will help you get your wave fix when you can’t make it out to the ocean.  It’s built on the tilt sensitivity of the iPhone, so tilting the phone left will turn the little surfer dude left and tilting the phone right will turn [...]

For a good while there was no Surf Report application for the iPhone.  Then suddenly there were two, one from Oakley and one from WaveWatch (who is interenstly enough, sponsored by Oakley).  Of course, I opted for the free one – Oakley’s Surf Report (powered by Surfline).  My general feeling is that it’s more trouble [...]

I bought a used longboard about a month ago, and I’ve been trying to break it in. I really like the way it paddles and trims in the waves. I have a blast just cruising on it.  One thing that surprises me is how easy it is to turn, and I’ve got to credit that [...]